


Camping with the Devil

by lucks_eterna



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Camping, Case Fic, F/M, Fluff, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-09 16:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12279918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucks_eterna/pseuds/lucks_eterna
Summary: After Dan bails on Chloe and Trixie's annual family camping trip, Lucifer decides to come along in his place. What starts off as a fun get away quickly turns deadly when someone starts murdering campers. It's up to Chloe and Lucifer to solve the case and catch the killer, all while fighting off their growing feelings for each other.





	1. Friday Night

“Detective, detective, DETECTIVE” Lucifer called out, trying to get Chloe’s attention as she stared off into space from her desk.

“What?!? Sorry, what?” Chloe said as she was jolted out of her trance.

“What were you thinking about? You’ve been acting strange all morning, so tell me, what’s on your mind?” Lucifer asked with concern.

“It’s nothing, it’s just that Dan told me that he can’t come on our annual camping trip with Trixie and me so I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to break the news to Trixie” Chloe explained.

“Oh, that’s no good, is it? Your offspring will be crushed when she finds out that Detective Douche is bailing. Say, when is this little camping trip, detective?” Lucifer said.

“Well, we were planning on leaving this Friday after work and coming back Sunday morning but now I don’t know if we’ll even go at all if it’s just me and Trixie.” Chloe said glumly.

“No, no, no, that won’t do. You have to go, if you start breaking traditions now, you’ll ruin your spawn’s childhood and she’ll never forgive you” Lucifer said, projecting his own familial issues onto Chloe’s situation. “You know what, detective? I’ll help you to solve this conundrum, I’m coming on the camping trip with you” he declared.

“What? No, Lucifer, you don’t have to do that” Chloe said trying to turn him down.

“I know, but I want to” he insisted.

“Well… I know that Trixie would love having you there, she keeps asking when you’re going to come over again” said Chloe, considering his offer.

“That’s the spirit, detective!” he said joyfully. 

“I never pegged you as the outdoorsy type, are you sure you can handle it?” she teased.

“Please” he scoffed. “I was alive long before you humans even found your way to caves for shelter. Let’s just say I’m accustomed to ‘roughing it’ as you humans put it” he said confidently.

“Okay, I guess you’re coming then, I’ll tell Trixie” Chloe said, ignoring the part of his comments about being alive for millennia and not being human. 

“Detective, do you mind if we go shopping after work today for some supplies? I could really use your expertise on what equipment to buy” he asked her.

“Sure” she agreed with a small smile as she opened up a case folder and got back to work. When five o’clock rolled around, Chloe and Lucifer drove to REI together to shop for camping supplies for their trip.

“Ohh, we’re gonna need at least three of these bad boys” Lucifer said as he put three, high powered, Superbrite® flashlights in their cart on top of the pile of other useless supplies that he had grabbed.

“Lucifer, we’re only going to be gone two days! We don’t need all this” Chloe chastised lightly.

“I beg to differ, detective, one can never be too prepared” Lucifer argued.

He continued to put every item that grabbed his attention into their cart as they walked through the aisles of REI. Chloe largely let him buy whatever he wanted, it was his money after all, but when he tried to put an air mattress into the cart, she stopped him.

“Lucifer, wait, we won’t have electricity at the campground, you won’t have any way to blow this up” Chloe explained.

“Oh, then in that case, I’ll get the one that automatically inflates when you pull the ripcord, no electricity needed” he said as he switched out the air mattresses, putting the new one in the cart.

“Seriously, Lucifer? I thought you were ‘accustomed to roughing it’” she mocked him with a British accent in a poor imitation of his voice.

“Just because I can withstand the elements, doesn’t mean I should have to suffer unnecessarily” he said defensively. They continued shopping and when Lucifer finally picked out a suitable tent, he and Chloe went to the check-out aisle to pay for the items. Chloe was shocked when they cashier read the total that was well over $1,000 but Lucifer whipped out his wallet without batting an eye and paid for everything.

After they had all the supplies packed in the back of Chloe’s car, she drove them over to her house to pick up Trixie before they headed out to the campground.

“Hey, monkey” Chloe greeted her daughter as she and Lucifer walked into Chloe’s house. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news” she continued solemnly. 

“Okay, tell me the bad news first” Trixie said and braced herself for the worst.

“The bad news is that your daddy can’t come on our annual camping trip,” Chloe said as she kneeled-down to get on Trixie’s level. “But the good news is that Lucifer offered to come with us instead” Chloe finished.

“Really?!? That’s awesome, thank you so much, Lucifer, we’re gonna have so much fun” Trixie said excitedly as she ran over to hug Lucifer around the legs.

“Yes, yes, alright, now if you could keep the hugging to a minimum this trip, that would be great” Lucifer said uncomfortably as he gently pushed Trixie off his legs.

“I’ll go pack my stuff!” Trixie said as she ran off to her bedroom, unfazed by his discomfort.

“You know she adores you so could you just suck it up and try to be nice to her while we’re on this trip?” Chloe asked once Trixie had left the room. Lucifer considered protesting but realized that it would be easier for everyone if he didn’t argue.

“As you wish, detective” he said with a deep sigh.

A few minutes later, Trixie returned with a bag full of clothes and personal supplies slung over her shoulder and looked Lucifer up and down.

“Are you going to wear that camping?” Trixie questioned as she looked over his expensive suit.

“I suppose we should swing by Lux on our way out so that I can change clothes and pack a few things myself” he mused as he looked down at his clothes.

After all of Trixie’s things were loaded into the car, Chloe drove them all to Lux. Chloe and Trixie waited in the car while Lucifer went inside to change clothes and pack up some personal items. When Lucifer came out of Lux, Chloe almost didn’t recognize him. He had changed out of his usual suit and instead was wearing a white, v neck tee shirt that hugged his muscles in all the right places and dark blue jeans that were almost black, slung low around his hips. 

Chloe’s mouth hung open in surprise when she finally realized that it was him. She didn’t even know he owned any other clothes besides suits and dress shirts, much less a tee shirt and jeans! Although she would never say it out loud, she had to admit, he looked damn good in it. 

“What? Is this not appropriate attire for camping?” Lucifer questioned self-consciously, much less confident now that he was wearing clothes he had never worn before in front of Chloe.

“No, no, it’s fine. They’re good. The clothes are—just, yeah, no they will work” Chloe stammered awkwardly, trying not to let him know how much she enjoyed the sight of him in those clothes. Meanwhile, Trixie smiled knowingly from the back seat at the interaction between the two of them. 

The drive out to the campground was a long one but to her credit, Trixie only asked ‘are we there yet?’ twice. When they finally arrived, they unloaded all their supplies and Trixie pulled out a small tent that was only big enough for one person from her bag. 

“What’s that for, monkey?” Chloe asked.

“Mom, I’m 9 years old now. I’m old enough to sleep in my own tent” Trixie declared as she began to spread out the fabric.

“Oh, okay. I just thought that Lucifer would take the small tent and you and I could take the larger one” Chloe said, ignoring the look of indignation on Lucifer’s face at the thought of being relegated to a tent that small.

“You can sleep with Lucifer, mom” Trixie said innocently as Chloe’s eyes went wide.

“Yes, detective, I think your offspring is on to something, you definitely should sleep with me” he teased as he walked closer to Chloe to get into her personal space and see if he could get a reaction from her but Chloe just put her palm against his chest to keep him from advancing. Lucifer ignored the sensation he felt in his stomach when she let her hand linger on his chest for a little too long. When Chloe realized what she was doing, she immediately pulled her hand away as if she had been burned.

“Uh, alright, we’ll make it work I guess” Chloe said as she tried to alleviate some of the tension in the air. “Lucifer, can you help me set up our tent?” she asked.

“Sure” he said breathlessly, shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts.

When both of their tents were pitched, the sun was beginning to set so they decided that it would be a good idea to make a fire. At first, Chloe had trouble to get the sparks to take hold so after a few minutes of struggling, Lucifer took pity on her and said,

“Mind if I have a go at it?”

“Be my guest” Chloe said in resignation. 

It only took one try for Lucifer to light the fire that Chloe had been struggling with for minutes.

“How did you—” she asked in astonishment.

“One of the perks of being the King of Hellfire and all that” he said with a nonchalant shrug.

“Cool!” Trixie said, impressed by his trick.

“Whatever” Chloe said under her breath as she brushed off his comments. She wished that he would drop this devil charade that he insisted on maintaining and tell her the truth but she knew that despite his weirdness, he was still a great partner, so she continued to put up with his nonsense.

After the fire engulfed all the firewood that they had gathered, Lucifer got out the supplies for dinner and began roasting hotdogs and cooking baked beans over the flames. When their dinner was ready, Chloe called Trixie over, who had been playing in the tall grasses nearby, looking for frogs.

“Trixie, babe, time for dinner!” 

Trixie came running back to their campsite and grabbed a paper plate with a hotdog and some beans on it and began eating.

“Mmm, so good, thanks mom” Trixie said with her mouth still full.

“Actually, Lucifer was the one that cooked this meal” Chloe said as she turned to look at Lucifer, giving him credit.

“Oh, thank you, Lucifer” Trixie amended.

“You’re welcome” he said softly, remembering Chloe’s wishes to play nice with her daughter.

“Alright, who wants s’mores?” Chloe asked when they had finished eating.

“Ohhh, me, me, I do, I do” Trixie said excitedly.

“I’m good. I don’t really care for them” Lucifer said.

“What!?! How can you not like s’mores?” Trixie questioned in astonishment.

“I just think that the marshmallow is too sticky and gets everywhere and that they’re more trouble than they’re worth” he said with a shrug.

“Well you have to eat s’mores when you go camping; it’s a tradition. Besides, you’ve never had s’mores the way my mom makes them. She uses a Reese’s peanut butter cup instead of the chocolate” Trixie explained.

“Very well. I guess if it’s a tradition, I’ll try one of your mom’s s’mores” Lucifer said with a smirk as he glanced over to Chloe who just rolled her eyes at his remarks. That man could make anything sound obscene. 

Lucifer roasted a marshmallow and put it on the graham cracker and Reese’s peanut butter cup that Chloe had handed to him. He hesitantly put it into his mouth and bit down, a look of surprise washing over his face when the concoction reached his taste buds.

“Mmm, I never knew that s’mores could be this bloody good!” he said in amazement.

“See, I told you” Trixie said in satisfaction while Chloe smiled at his reaction. Lucifer was working on his second s’more when Trixie asked,

“Do you know any scary stories, Lucifer?” 

“Too many” he responded darkly, causing Chloe to tilt her head and looked at him, bemused.

“Can you tell me a good one?” Trixie asked him. Lucifer glanced over to Chloe who was giving him a warning look, and without exchanging any words, he understood that she didn’t want him to tell a story that was too scary for her daughter. He gave a small nod in acknowledgment as he began his story.

“Not long ago, in these very woods, a mom, a dad, and their young daughter decided to go camping—”

“Just like us!” Trixie interrupted causing Chloe to wonder at what point had Trixie started seeing Lucifer as a father figure and start including him as part of the family.

“Please don’t interrupt, and no, you’ll find that this family is nothing like us” he said as he continued his story. 

“Anyways, the family was staying at a campground like this one, except unlike this one, there weren’t any other campers around for miles and miles; they were utterly alone in the wilderness and none of them had cell phones. It wasn’t a big deal though; they were big outdoor enthusiasts so they decided that spending a week in the woods away from other humans would be fine and that they wouldn’t need help from anybody. They were wrong” he paused here for a moment to make the story more dramatic before carrying on.

“One day, when the father was chopping firewood with an axe for the fire, like he did every morning, something in him snapped. Some say it was the isolation from other humans, others say that he harbored these desires for a long time and they finally came out while he was camping with his family, but we’ll never know what truly made him do it.”

“Do what?” Trixie interrupted again, captivated by his story, on the edge of her seat wanting to hear what happened next but looking shameful that she had talked over him again. Lucifer ignored her interruption this time and continued with his story.

“As he was chopping the wood, an urge came over him to chop more than just the firewood, so the father set out to find his wife and daughter, and without saying a word, he silently came up behind his wife and child and bludgeoned them to death with his axe, their screams piercing the air and with every hit more and more blood came gush—”

“Ahem” Chloe cleared her throat and gave him a glare that clearly meant ‘tone it down’ as her eyes flitted over to Trixie who was still enthralled by his tale.

“Yes, right, anyways” Lucifer continued. “The father murdered his family but when the deed was done, he snapped out of his trance and when he realized what he had done, he immediately regretted his actions. He couldn’t live with himself so he took the very axe that he used to kill his family to kill himself chopping off his legs first, then his left arm one by one until he bled out. Some say that his ghost still haunts these woods to this day and that at night, if you listen close enough, you can still hear the screams of his victims, warning you to get out, or else suffer the same fate that they did.” Lucifer finished his story ominously.

“It’s just a story, Trix, none of it was real” Chloe said after she saw Trixie’s reaction to the story.

“I know” Trixie said defensively. “It wasn’t even that scary” she insisted.

“Alright, well if you want, you can still sleep in the big tent with me if you’re too scared to sleep alone” Chloe offered tenderly.

“No, I’m good, I’ll take the small one and you and Lucifer can have the big one” she decided resolutely.

“Okay, well then you better get ready for bed, it’s starting to get late” Chloe said, peering at the horizon where the sun was no longer visible. 

The sun had set long before Lucifer began his scary story and it was getting darker and darker now that their fire was beginning to burn out. Chloe gave Trixie a kiss goodnight as she went over to her tent and got ready for bed. After Trixie was in her tent, Chloe walked over to where Lucifer was standing.

“I apologize, detective, I truly did not mean to scare your daughter” he said sincerely.

“It’s okay, Lucifer, she’s a tough cookie and before long, she’ll forget all about it” Chloe said reassuringly. “Come on, let’s get your air mattress set up, princess, so that you don’t have to sleep on the ground like us commoners” she teased him as she opened the tent flap. 

“Princess?” he questioned indignantly “We’ll see who’s laughing in the morning when you wake up with a sore back and I’m perfectly rested” he taunted back as he pulled the cord on his air mattress and watched it rapidly inflate. When it was fully inflated, Lucifer unrolled his sleeping bag on top of it and flopped down on it with a sigh of pleasure. Chloe just shook her head and smiled at his antics. Lucifer began to take off his shoes and socks to get ready to sleep but when he started to take off his white tee shirt, Chloe stopped him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?” she questioned.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I like to sleep shirtless” he stated obviously as he continued to lift his shirt off over his head. “Well, actually, I normally sleep entirely naked but I thought I would leave on my trousers for your sake” he said with a wink.

“Okay” Chloe said distantly, telling herself that it was no big deal that he would be sleeping shirtless just a few feet away from her. After all, they were just colleagues and partners and Chloe was totally over whatever feelings she might have had for him ever since the whole ‘Candy Morningstar’ incident.

Chloe got into her sleeping bag on the ground on the other side of the tent, as far away from Lucifer as she could get and tried not to let him see how uncomfortable the hard ground was underneath her. Since when did I become such a wuss? She thought to herself as she rolled over and tried to get comfortable. She went on this trip every year and sleeping on the ground had never bothered her this much before. Maybe it was just the fact that Lucifer was sitting in the lap of luxury over there on his air mattress that made her feel more uncomfortable by comparison. 

Chloe rolled over multiple times, trying to get comfortable enough to go to sleep but to no avail. Additionally, her discomfort was furthered by the biting wind that was beginning to blow. Even though they were in Southern California, it still got pretty chilly, especially at night; and combined with the unforgiving wind, it was getting downright cold. Chloe nestled further into her sleeping bag and pulled it up over her arms, trying to stay warm. She didn’t know how Lucifer wasn’t freezing over there without a shirt on, barely tucked into his sleeping bag. 

Hours passed and Chloe still couldn’t fall asleep. She tried every trick that she knew from counting sheep to taking deep breaths but nothing worked. She was freezing, uncomfortable, and miserable and she just wanted this night to be over with. At one point, her teeth began to chatter she was so cold. She was sure that Lucifer had fallen asleep hours ago so when he suddenly spoke up, it startled her.

“Oh, bloody hell, detective, come here” he said so clearly that Chloe knew he wasn’t talking in his sleep.

“I’m fine” she said back defiantly, trying to stay strong and refusing to let him win.

“Really? Because your chattering teeth would suggest otherwise” he said caustically. “Come over here and sleep on the air mattress with me. You’ll be much more comfortable and my body heat will warm you up. I won’t even try any funny business with you, you have my word.” He said exasperatedly, tired of listening to the signs of Chloe’s discomfort from his side of the tent.

At first, Chloe was going to turn him down again but when she heard his proposal, she had to admit it made sense. Maybe it was the exhaustion but against her better judgement, she slowly got up and walked over to him.

“Get in” he instructed, as he lifted up the edge of his sleeping bag for her to get into it. Chloe crawled into the bag with him and immediately felt warmer.

“How are you not freezing?” she questioned in disbelief.

“The devil doesn’t get cold” he said simply, in reply. Chloe still didn’t believe that he was the devil but the heat radiating off his body was too nice to pass up. He was like her own personal space heater. Whoa there, he’s not yours she had to remind herself as she snuggled closer to his chest. He’s just a friend helping another friend to get a good night’s sleep she thought to herself, trying to justify her actions as she pressed both hands to his bare chest, trying to warm them up.

Lucifer’s breath hitched when she put her hands against him. He felt something flutter in his chest and realized that it was his heart. He had been experiencing that feeling a lot when he was around the detective and he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. He wrapped his arms around Chloe to bring her in closer and envelop her in his warmth. He considered making some smart arse remark about finally getting her into bed with him but he decided to refrain, fearful that he would scare her away from him and that he would lose the not unpleasant feeling building in his chest.

Chloe let out a deep sigh of satisfaction as she finally felt relaxed enough to fall asleep. It wasn’t long before she was fast asleep, curled up against his warm chest, wrapped in his arms. That night, Chloe and Lucifer both slept better than they had in a long time. 

The next morning, instead of being awoken peacefully by the sound of birds or other wildlife, they were woken up by the sound of a blood-curdling scream, piercing through the serene morning air.


	2. Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter, let me know what you think :)

Chloe woke up suddenly to the sound of someone screaming and flailed her limbs wildly as she jolted awake. Lucifer woke up when Chloe’s flailing arm hit him in the face. 

“Ow” Lucifer said, rubbing his cheek where she had clocked him.

“What’s going on?” Chloe asked groggily, looking around the tent as the memories of last night came back to her. Right when she asked that question, they heard another scream that sounded like it was coming from the RV campsites to the south of them.

Chloe immediately scrambled out of bed, put on some shoes, and grabbed her gun from where it was sitting on the other side of the tent.

“Stay behind me” she told Lucifer as she stepped out of the tent with her gun drawn. Lucifer quickly put on a shirt and shoes and followed her out of the tent.

“Mommy, what’s going on?” Trixie asked when they passed by her tent.

“Stay in your tent, baby. Mommy and Lucifer are gonna go find out” Chloe instructed firmly.

Chloe and Lucifer carefully walked down to the RV campsite, both on high alert. When they approached the lot, they meticulously walked through the rows of RVs until they reached a large white Winnebago at the end of the row where they heard someone inside sobbing.

“LAPD, is everything alright in there?” Chloe asked as she knocked on the door to the RV. She didn’t get a response but still heard the loud sobbing coming from inside. The door was unlocked and opened slightly when Chloe knocked on it so she glanced over at Lucifer to make sure that he was still following closely behind her and then she slowly entered the RV with her gun drawn. When Chloe entered the RV and assessed the situation, she saw a woman, covered in blood, crying over the lifeless body of a man with a s’mores skewer sticking out of his neck.

“Ma’am, step away from the body and show me your hands!” Chloe instructed assertively.

“He’s my husband!” she wailed through tears. “He was my husband and someone murdered him!” she screamed. Realizing that the woman wasn’t a threat, Chloe put away her gun and tried to diffuse the situation.

“Ma’am, I understand that you’re distraught right now, but you need to calm down. Can you start by telling me your name?” Chloe asked, going into full cop-mode.

“Amelia. My name is Amelia Brooks and this is my husband Gary” she said, still sniffling but calming down slightly.

“Alright, Amelia, why don’t you tell me what happened” Chloe said sympathetically.

“I woke up this morning and had to take a phone call from work but I had poor reception down here so I hiked up to higher ground and when I came back, I found him like this” Amelia said sadly.

“How long were you away?” Chloe asked.

“I couldn’t have been gone for more than… 15 minutes or so” she said as she looked at her watch to gauge the time.

“That means that the killer can’t have gone far” Chloe said quietly so that only Lucifer could hear her. “Okay, my partner here is going to call the local sheriff and you’re going to tell him everything you told me” said Chloe, knowing that she didn’t have jurisdiction there.  
Lucifer took the hint and whipped out his phone, quickly googling and calling the number for the sheriff’s office to explain their situation.

“He’s on his way” Lucifer said as he hung up his phone and put it back into his pocket. 

While they waited for the sheriff to arrive, Chloe led Amelia outside to get her away from her husband’s body and to comfort her. Meanwhile, Lucifer snapped pictures of the body and the crime scene on his phone and sent them to Ella, which Chloe had asked him to do before she left the RV.

When the sheriff arrived sooner than expected, he introduced himself to Lucifer and Chloe.

“Hi, I’m Sheriff Seamus O’Leary but you can call me Seamus. Which one of you called in the murder?” the sheriff said, addressing the group.

“My partner called it in” Chloe spoke up. “I’m detective Chloe Decker with the LAPD and this is my civilian consultant Mr. Morningstar” Chloe said as she motioned to Lucifer.

“Wait, you’re Chloe and Lucifer?!?” the sheriff said in surprise, recognizing their names.

“Uh, yes, yes we are” Lucifer said in confusion “How do you know our names?” 

“You two have become something of a legend around here. Your record precedes you” Seamus said in amazement as Chloe and Lucifer exchanged glances with each other. “We’ve heard all about the beautiful detective and her unusual partner who thinks he’s the devil; and more importantly, we’ve heard about your incredibly high closure rate at the LAPD”

“I am the devil” Lucifer muttered half-heartedly under his breath, knowing that neither the sheriff nor the detective would believe him.

“Anyways” the sheriff said, ignoring Lucifer. “I would be honored if you two would help me out on this investigation”

“Well… I would need to clear it with my lieutenant first…” Chloe said unenthusiastically, not wanting to work a case on her weekend off but not wanting to give him an outright ‘no’ either.

“Well why don’t you call your lieutenant right now and see if it’s okay” Seamus said with excitement.

“Umm, okay” Chloe agreed as she began to take out her phone. “Why don’t you two go over Amelia’s story while I call Lieutenant Monroe” Chloe suggested as she began to dial.

“Hey, Decker, what’s up?” Lieutenant Monroe greeted Chloe over the phone when she picked up.

“Lieutenant! Hi!” Chloe began, unsure of how to phrase her predicament. 

“I thought you were on your camping trip, why are you calling me?” Lt. Monroe questioned.

“Well, that’s kind of why I’m calling” Chloe began nervously. “I am on my annual camping trip with Lucifer and Trixie, and we discovered a dead body. One of the campers here has a s’mores skewer through his neck so we called it in to the local sheriff—”

“And he’s stonewalling you?” Olivia guessed incorrectly.

“The opposite, actually, he wants our help to solve this one” Chloe clarified.

“Oh, that sounds like a great idea. Very good PR, too, the LAPD working with a county sheriff to solve a murder? That will definitely make headlines” said Lt. Monroe, seemingly more concerned with press coverage than finding the killer. “Don’t worry about using up your vacation days, I’ll be sure that you get paid overtime for working this one”

“That’s very generous, thank you, lieutenant” Chloe said with fake gratitude, deciding not to argue.

“Alright, keep me apprised of your progress” 

“Will do. Bye” Chloe said as she hung up.

“The sheriff is up to speed now, detective” Lucifer announced proudly.

“Good” Chloe said “Okay, I need to go check on Trixie and make sure she’s alright” Chloe said, feeling guilty that she almost forgot about her daughter during this whole ordeal.

“Alright, while you check on your offspring, the sheriff and I will start interrogating potential witnesses and I’ll let you know when Ella gets back to me with her thoughts on the photos I sent her” Lucifer said to Chloe. “You should probably call your coroner to collect the body” Lucifer said to Seamus, thinking it odd that the coroner wasn’t here already.

“Of course, I’ll do that right now!” Seamus said as he stepped away to make the phone call.

“Looks like you have it handled” Chloe said to Lucifer with a small smile, admiring his initiative. “Thank you” she said quietly as she gently grabbed his arm in a gesture of affection.

“You’re welcome” Lucifer replied with a thick swallow, holding her gaze. “You better go check on your spawn” he said after clearing his throat.

Chloe gave a small nod and turned to walk up towards their tents. When she got up to their campsite she called out to comfort her daughter.

“Trixie, it’s okay to come out”

“What’s going on, mommy?” Trixie asked meekly.

“Well, there’s been a murder but mommy and Lucifer are going to solve it” she comforted.

“Are we in danger?” 

“No, monkey, it looks like this was crime of passion. I don’t think there’ll be any more” Chloe said reassuringly.

“Okay, good. Where’s Lucifer” Trixie questioned as she looked around as if he were hiding behind Chloe.

“He’s down with the sheriff talking to people to see if they saw anything. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“But what if he gets attacked by the ghost of the axe murderer?” Trixie said with concern.

“Trix, that was just a story, none of that ever happened and besides, ghosts aren’t real” Chloe said.

“But the devil is real, and so are demons, so why can’t ghosts be real?”

“Lucifer isn’t the devil and Maze isn’t a demon, they’re just… pretending. None of it is real.” Chloe said, trying to reassure her daughter. 

“But Lucifer told me he was the devil and he doesn’t lie so it has to be the truth” Trixie insisted.

“Well if Lucifer is really the devil, then he can take care of himself just fine and no ghosts will mess with him” Chloe said, using her own daughter’s logic against her. 

“Okay” said Trixie, not entirely accepting her explanation but not arguing with her mom either.

“So, tell me about how things are going at school” Chloe said, changing the subject. Trixie’s face lit up as she described all her teachers, tests, and assignments in great detail. After talking to Trixie for some time, Chloe noticed Lucifer starting to walk up towards their campsite.

“Lucifer!” Trixie shouted as she ran up to him and threw her arms around his long legs. “I’m so glad you’re okay, I thought the axe murderer’s ghost got you!” she said in relief.

“Hello, child, yes, I’m fine and like I told you, that story is completely made up, you have no reason to fear an axe murderer especially when I’m around” he said sincerely.

“Really?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, really. I don’t lie and I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. You have nothing to worry about when I’m around” Lucifer said and Chloe’s heart melted at the interaction. She had asked Lucifer to try to be nicer to her daughter but this was above and beyond what she expected. Chloe had never really considered Lucifer to be ‘father material’ but after that interaction, coupled with his more mature attitude as of late, she was starting to reconsider.

“Trixie, baby, why don’t you go play over there where I can see you, Lucifer and I need to discuss the case and I’m sure there are some frogs that need to be caught” she suggested.

“What did you find out?” Chloe asked once Trixie was out of earshot.

“Not much. I interviewed all the campers in the RVs near the Brooks’ Winnebago but none of them heard anything. I did my mojo on the ones that seemed suspicious but nobody there had any desire to kill Mr. Brooks. Ella also texted me back about the photos and she said that based on the entry wounds caused by the skewer, Gary wasn’t struggling at the time he was stabbed. This either means he was asleep or unconscious at the time of the attack. The coroner came and took away the body and he’ll be able to perform a full tox screen to see if he was drugged. I also talked to Amelia again to see if Gary had any enemies that might wish to do him harm but he seems like an average Joe so I don’t think that he was murdered by anyone he knew from his work. Amelia’s phone log also proved that she did receive a phone call from her job that lasted 13 minutes. I believe that she’s innocent. Frankly, detective, I’m stumped as to who would have motive or opportunity to kill Gary Brooks. Maybe the lab results will tell us something useful.” Lucifer concluded his long explanation of what happened with a sigh.

“Wow, you did all that?” Chloe asked in surprise, impressed by his thorough detective work.

“Well, I mean the sheriff did help a little before heading back to the station” Lucifer conceded.

“Still, I’m proud of you, Lucifer. You’ve been showing a lot of initiative lately and acting more mature and it means a lot to me” Chloe said as she looked deep into his big brown eyes.

“You’re welcome” he said before deciding to lighten up the mood a bit “You think you would be able get a weekend off without having so solve a homicide, sheesh, it’s like we’re in Scooby Doo or something” Lucifer joked.

“Does that make you Scooby? Because I could totally see that” Chloe ribbed with a smile.

“No I think that I would be Fred and you would be Daphne because of our undeniable chemistry and sexual tension” Lucifer quipped back.  
Chloe just rolled her eyes at his comments but continued their banter.

“I think it’s more like an episode of ‘Murder She Wrote’, where I’m Jessica Fletcher, just trying to live my life and then I come across a murder” Chloe offered.

“Are you seriously making references to ‘Murder She Wrote’? You are most definitely the oldest young person I’ve ever met” he said with a chuckle.

“Mommy, I’m hungry, can we have lunch?” Trixie asked as she walked over to them from where she was playing in the grass.

“Sure, monkey” Chloe agreed. They made turkey sandwiches for lunch and then afterwards Trixie asked them if they could go fishing in the lake and since the case was at a dead end, Chloe figured that they deserved a little break until the lab results came in so she agreed and asked if Lucifer wanted to come with.

“Well, fishing was more of my half-brother’s thing but I guess I’ll come” Lucifer said smiling slightly at his little inside joke. They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening fishing and then ate what they caught for dinner. When bedtime rolled around, they still hadn’t gotten a call from the sheriff with the lab results. Chloe and Lucifer just figured that they probably didn’t have as good of a lab out here as they did in LA so it could take a while for them to come back.

Trixie went to her tent and quickly fell asleep, exhausted from a long day of fishing. Chloe and Lucifer were getting ready for bed; the air was thick between them when Lucifer finally broke the silence and addressed the elephant in the room.

“So, are you going to sleep with me tonight?” he said with a slight innuendo, but also curious as to what she was going to say.

“That was a one-time thing” Chloe said unconvincingly as she shook her head.

“Oh come on, detective, I know you want to” he teased as he laid down on his side on the air mattress, staring seductively at her with his head perched on his hand. “You know my opinion about resisting your desires. I won’t judge you if you give in” he said enticingly. Chloe was entirely prepared to continue to resist him but a small part of her wanted to see the look on his face if she said ‘yes’ so she stopped fighting it.

“Okay” Chloe said nonchalantly with a shrug. “Move over” she said as she walked over to where he was laying. 

Chloe wasn’t disappointed by the look of complete shock on his face. His eyes were wider than she’d ever seen them and his mouth was open so far in surprise that he would start to catch flies in it if he wasn’t careful. Chloe let out a small giggle as she scooted into the sleeping bag with him and rolled over onto her side so that he could spoon her. Lucifer was in complete shock at her actions but he wasn’t going to mess this up by saying something stupid to drive her off so he just shut up and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his bare chest into her back, ignoring that ever-growing flutter in his stomach and heart. 

“Goodnight, Lucifer” Chloe said as she snuggled up to his warm chest.

“Goodnight, Chloe” Lucifer whispered as he nuzzled his face into her hair, smelling a mixture of campfire smoke and her own personal scent that he had become quite fond of. Soon, they fell asleep, both of them warm and happy.

For the second night in a row, Chloe and Lucifer slept phenomenally and for the second night in a row, they woke up to the sound of someone screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to anyone that left comments or kudos. I really do appreciate your support


	3. Sunday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far, I think that this is my favorite chapter. Hopefully you'll like it too :)

Chloe woke up from the screams before Lucifer again but this time she wasn’t as disoriented as she was yesterday. When she opened her eyes, she felt Lucifer’s arms still wrapped around her, trapping her against his chest. He was still asleep, the screams obviously hadn’t registered with him, or if they had, he was ignoring them.

“Lucifer, wake up, we have to go see what’s going on” Chloe said as she tried and failed to pry his arms off her.

“Mmm, 5 more minutes” he mumbled, still half asleep. Then, he rolled over on the air mattress, effortlessly taking Chloe with him as he tried to get comfortable again.

“Seriously, Lucifer, wake up!” she said as she wiggled to get away. He was being stubborn and still holding on to her so Chloe decided to switch tactics.

“Lucifer, baby, wake up, I’m ready for another round” she whispered seductively in his ear. That got his attention; he immediately woke up, his eyes going wide with surprise as he released his hold on her.

“You’re unbelievable!” Chloe reprimanded as she crawled over him to grab her gun and investigate the screams for the second day in a row. When Lucifer realized what he had done, he sheepishly followed Chloe out of the tent to help her investigate.

They followed the sounds of the screams down to the edge of the lake where they came across a young girl that couldn’t have been much older than Trixie standing on the dock in a swimsuit screaming and crying as she looked down into the lake. When Chloe and Lucifer approached her, they saw what she was looking at. Floating in the lake were two dead bodies, a man and a woman with their throats slit. 

“They were my parents!” the girl said through tears.

“Okay, sweetie, why don’t you come over here and tell me what happened” Chloe said as she led the little girl away from her parents’ bodies. “Call the sheriff” Chloe said to Lucifer over her shoulder as she walked away. 

“What’s your name?” Chloe asked the little girl when they were a fair distance away from the lake.

“Robin” the girl responded quietly.

“Robin, how old are you?” 

“Twelve” she responded.

“Okay Robin, I know this is difficult but I need you to tell me about your parents. What were their names and what were you doing when you saw them last?” Chloe said as she knelt-down to get on the girl’s level.

“Their names were Marty and Violet and we were planning on going for a swim in the lake this morning. I forgot my towel so I ran back to our campsite and when I came back…” the girl trailed off, too distraught to finish her sentence.

“How long were you gone for?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It took me a while to find my towel” Robin said, trying to stop crying.

“You were very helpful, Robin, thank you. Do you have any family members you could call to come and pick you up?” Chloe said gently.

“Yeah, my aunt and uncle don’t live too far from here” 

“Okay, why don’t you call them, here you can use my phone” Chloe offered. 

Shortly after Robin went back to her tent to wait for her aunt and uncle, the sheriff arrived, his hair wet, probably from a shower, and right behind Seamus was the coroner. Chloe relayed the information that the young girl had told her to Seamus and called Lt. Monroe to update her on the situation.

“Hey, Lieutenant, we just discovered two more bodies today. The first murder looked like a crime of passion but now that the body count is up to three in the span of two days, I think we’re dealing with a serial killer” Chloe informed Olivia over the phone.

“Alright, I want you and Lucifer to stay there until you catch the killer. It would reflect poorly on the LAPD if you let this one go unsolved. I believe in you and your partner, so don’t let me down” Olivia said.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this” Chloe promised. “Um, Lieutenant, I was wondering if you could let Dan off early today to come and pick up Trixie. I don’t want to keep her here if there’s a serial killer on the loose.” 

“Of course, I’ll send him over right away” Lt. Monroe said sympathetically.

“Thanks, Lieutenant, I’ll keep you updated” Chloe said as she hung up the phone.

While Chloe was on the phone, the coroner had fished the bodies out of the lake and began to examine them. He determined that the cause of death was the same for both of them, exsanguination via an extremely precise cut to the carotid artery. The coroner bagged the bodies and took them away, promising to rush the lab results on them as well as the Brooks murder.

“So do you have any ideas who could be doing this?” Seamus asked Chloe and Lucifer once the coroner had left.

“Well I thought that the Brooks murder was a crime of passion and that the s’mores skewer was used because it was convenient but now that we’re likely dealing with a serial killer, that changes things” Chloe explained. “With a serial killer, we have a totally different pool of suspects. We should start looking for connections between the victims to see if there was a pattern as to why they were chosen. Let’s operate under the assumption that the killer is someone on this campground; either another camper or a staff member since they can strike and then blend in so quickly. What do you think, Lucifer?” Chloe asked, valuing his opinion.

“I think you’re absolutely right, detective. We should start interviewing everyone in the area and see if anyone has an insatiable desire to kill” Lucifer agreed. Chloe smiled at him, glad that they were on the same page.

“Alright, we should split up to interview more people. Let’s reconvene here in an hour and see if we have any suspects” Chloe instructed.

“You really wanted to say ‘split up and look for clues,’ didn’t you?” Lucifer joked, alluding to their earlier conversation about Scooby Doo. 

“Let’s just get to work” Chloe said as she rolled her eyes and tried to suppress the smile that was growing on her face. The sheriff, meanwhile, looked between the two of them, wordlessly observing their interaction.

They all went their separate ways to interview the campers in the area for the next hour. Chloe took a small break from questioning when Dan arrived to pick up Trixie. 

“Mommy, why do I have to go home so soon?” Trixie asked.

“It’s just a precaution, monkey. We want to make sure that you’re safe until we catch whoever is doing these bad things” 

“But what about you and Lucifer? What about your safety?” Trixie protested.

“Mommy and Lucifer are going to be fine. We’re going to catch the bad guy and be home before you know it” 

“Okay” Trixie conceded. “I love you mommy, and tell Lucifer I said ‘goodbye’”

“Okay, monkey, I love you too” Chloe said as she hugged her daughter goodbye before she got into the car.

“Be careful, Chloe” Dan said as he opened the door to the car.

“I will” she promised as she gave him a quick hug before he got into the car. Chloe waved goodbye as they drove away, thankful that her daughter was out of danger. 

Chloe went back to questioning the campers and then the staff at the campground before heading over to the dock to meet with Lucifer and Seamus.

“What did you guys find out?” Chloe asked as she approached the group.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t find out anything useful other than the odd and somewhat disturbing desires of the poor chaps here. Despite their interesting inclinations, I’m positive that none of them are serial killers” Lucifer shared.

“I didn’t find out anything useful either” Sheriff O’Leary began, “most of the people either had alibis or seemed genuinely shocked that someone was murdering campers.”

“I didn’t have much luck either” Chloe said with a sigh, “alright, hopefully the coroner will get back to us with something helpful when the lab results come in. Until then, let’s go back to the first crime scene and see if we missed anything.”

They returned to the RV lot and combed over the Brooks’ RV to look for anything they might have missed the first time. They didn’t find any damning evidence but the dried pool of blood got Chloe thinking. 

 

“Hmmm” Chloe mused.

“What?” asked Lucifer.

“Well, Gary was obviously murdered here” she began, “but there wasn’t any blood on the dock where we found Marty and Violet so that means that they were probably murdered while they were in the water…”

“And their wounds were clearly inflicted at a close range so that means that the killer was in the water with them” Lucifer finished, building off her realization.

“Exactly” Chloe said, “maybe the killer left behind some evidence in the water that we missed.” 

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Lucifer said excitedly.

On their way back to the dock to investigate, the sheriff got a call from the coroner saying that the lab results came back.

“Okay, thanks” Seamus said, hanging up the phone after hearing what the coroner found out.

“Alright he said that there weren’t any fibers or fingerprints on any of the bodies but they all had needle marks on them. The coroner said that they all had horse tranquilizer in their systems, which explains why none of them had any defensive wounds. They were all unconscious before they were killed” he relayed to the rest of the group.

“Horse tranquilizer?” Lucifer said “Isn’t that pretty hard to get ahold of?”

“It is, and it’s highly regulated. You need a good reason for having it and they only give it out to people like horse vets, park rangers, and law enforcement to tranquilize large animals instead of shooting them. We can track easily track down who has access to it” said Chloe, excited by the new lead.

“I’m needed back at the station but I’ll find out who has access to the tranquilizer. Meanwhile, you two should go check out the water around the dock for clues” Seamus said as he began walking away from them.

“Okay, let us know what you find” Chloe said, waving to him as he left.

Lucifer and Chloe walked over to the dock together and looked down into the water but it was too murky to see anything.

“Ugh, fine, I volunteer” Lucifer said as he began to take his shirt off.

“Volunteer for what?” Chloe asked.

“To dive down to the bottom of the lake to search for clues” he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well do you have to be naked for it?” Chloe mumbled as she averted her gaze from his now completely naked figure.

“Oh, does this bother you?” Lucifer said in fake surprise as he turned around to face her.

“Please” Chloe scoffed “It’s nothing I haven’t already seen” 

“And yet you still won’t sleep with me. Strange” he teased as Chloe rolled her eyes at him yet again. 

“As I recall, I’ve been sleeping with you the past few nights” Chloe shot back.

“Darling, if you think that sleeping with me and sleeping with me are in any way similar experiences, you’re in for a rude awakening when you finally do give in” Lucifer said with a hungry look in his eyes that was too much for Chloe to handle with him in his current state of undress.

“Just get in the damn lake” Chloe said as her face began to burn red, blushing at his words.

Lucifer looked at her for a moment longer before turning and jumping into the lake, splashing Chloe in the process.

“Hey!” she objected as she leapt back. 

“I apologize, detective, I didn’t mean to make you so wet” he said, drawing out the last word, the innuendo clear. Lucifer had reigned in his innuendos when Trixie was around but now that she was gone, it seemed that he was making up for lost time. Chloe gave him a look of disapproval and without saying another word, he sunk below the water and began searching the bottom of the lake. After a few minutes of searching without any luck, something caught Lucifer’s attention out of the corner of his eye. He popped up for a breath of air and told Chloe that he had found something interesting. He sucked in a deep breath and dove to the bottom to retrieve the item. When he brought it back up, he discovered that it was a syringe.

“That has to be the syringe that the killer used to inject the victims! He must’ve dropped it after he injected them” she said, noticing the plunger in the syringe was all the way down, “this piece of evidence could crack the case wide open, good work, Lucifer” 

“Good, I was beginning to think that I jumped in the lake for nothing” he said as he set the syringe on the edge of the dock.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, you were starting to stink and needed a bath either way. Finding the syringe was just a nice bonus” Chloe lied smoothly.

“I most certainly do not stink!” he said, knowing that she was joking but a small part of him was self-conscious and feared that she was telling the truth. When Chloe broke out into a fit of giggles at his reaction, he just got even more offended.

“Oh you’re going to pay for that!” Lucifer said and with lightning fast speed, he jumped out of the water and pulled Chloe off the dock into the water with him.

“Lucifer, wait!” Chloe screamed as she was being pulled into the lake, but it was too late. She tumbled into the waves, still wearing her clothes. He was amused and started to splash her with more water, laughing all the while. 

“This isn’t funny, Lucifer. People died in this lake” 

“So?” he questioned.

“So it’s gross and… disrespectful” she said weakly.

“Oh is the big bad detective scared of a little water?” Lucifer taunted.

“No, it’s just… oh shut up” Chloe said as she splashed him in return, a grin beginning to take over her face. 

They horsed around in the water for a little while longer, dunking each other under the waves and laughing, forgetting about the serial killer and all their troubles for the moment. At one point, when they were wrestling in the water, they emerged from the lake with their faces mere inches apart, their breaths mingling in the small space between them. They stared into each other’s eyes and both began to lean in at the same time; and just as Lucifer closed his eyes, Chloe jerked back when she realized what she was about to do. 

“Umm, we should probably go dry off and tell the sheriff what we found” 

“Right” he said breathlessly. Chloe had been having so much fun with Lucifer that she had forgotten that he was nude underneath the water so it caught her off guard when he walked onto the dock completely bare. She stared for a moment too long, admiring the way that the water droplets raced down his shirtless chest, going lower, and lower, and lower.

“Like what you see?” Lucifer said cockily when he saw her expression.

“Uh, I’ll meet you back at the tent” she said before turning tail and running away from him, avoiding his question.

“Chloe, wait!” he called after her, but she was already gone. 

He dried off and put on his tee shirt and jeans again that were sitting in a pile on the dock before slowly making his way back to their tent. When he got back to the tent, he saw that Chloe had put on some dry clothes.

“I’m gonna call Lt. Monroe and Sheriff O’Leary now” Chloe said, quickly excusing herself. Lucifer decided to let her go without protesting. Over the phone, Chloe informed the sheriff that they found the syringe that injected the victims with horse tranquilizer so he drove over to pick it up and test it for DNA. He was doubtful that there would be anything on it since it was at the bottom of the lake but he said that they would do their best. She also called Olivia and gave her an update on their case. Olivia was pleased with the new developments and praised Chloe and Lucifer’s hard work. 

When Chloe returned to the tent, she could feel the tension between them almost immediately upon entering. 

“Hey” she said in a clipped voice.

“Hey” he responded in the same tone.

“Listen, I uh, wanted to apologize for running away from you earlier” Chloe said, breaking the silence.

“You never need to apologize to me, Chloe” he said sincerely, the sound of her first name on his lips catching her off guard.

“Still, uh, I wanted to say sorry” Chloe said, finding it hard to find the right words.

“It’s fine” he said immediately “Are you hungry? I’m hungry, let’s get some dinner” Lucifer suggested, quickly changing gears. 

“Sure” Chloe said, and now that he mentioned it, she was rather hungry. They cooked up some burgers over the fire and ate them in silence. Chloe hated how awkward things were between them but she was terrified of what might have happened if she didn’t pull away from him. She was beginning to feel things around him that she hadn’t felt in some time and that scared her.

When it was finally time for bed, Chloe hesitated, standing at the edge of Lucifer’s air mattress. 

“Well, what’s it going to be tonight?” Lucifer questioned, giving her an out if she didn’t want to sleep with him. Part of Chloe considered distancing herself from him further, both physically and emotionally by sleeping on her side of the tent but that part of her was drown out by her desire to get a good night’s rest. At least that was what she told herself; that it was only about sleep and nothing else.

Chloe didn’t say anything at first but instead replied to his question by wriggling into the sleeping bag with him. Eventually, Chloe broke the silence.

“I like your hair like this” she said, stroking the side of his head where the hair had begun to curl from getting wet in the lake.

“Really?” Lucifer said, blushing slightly, too shocked to come up with a smartass response.

“Mmm hmm” Chloe said as she continued running her hands through his hair.

Lucifer wasn’t going to say anything that might scare her away but his curiosity got the best of him.

“What are we, Chloe?” 

“I don’t know” Chloe said honestly “I know that we’re partners and that I enjoy working with you. I think we make a great team but I don’t know what we are beyond that.” 

“Are we friends?” Lucifer asked timidly, unsure if she would say yes.

“Of course we’re friends, Lucifer. I think you’re my best friend, actually” Chloe said surprised that it just now occurred to her.

“Could we ever be more than friends?” Lucifer asked, deciding to put it all out on the table.

“Yeah, I think that we could…” Chloe trailed off.

“But?” Lucifer supplied.

“But I don’t think that I’m ready yet” 

“But someday?” he asked hopefully.

“Someday” Chloe confirmed.

“Okay” he said, accepting her answers, now filled with a new optimism. Lucifer wasn’t known for his patience but he had lived for many millennia so he figured that a little more waiting wouldn’t kill him. He smiled and put his arm around her, living in the moment, just happy that she was with him.

“So who do you think the killer is?” he asked, changing the subject. They speculated and swapped theories about who the killer could be that only got more and more crazy as the night went on, seeing who could come up with the most ridiculous theory. After hours of pillow talk, they were finally ready to go to sleep.

“Goodnight, detective” Lucifer said with a yawn as he rolled over on his side exposing his back to her.

“Goodnight” Chloe said as she ran her hands over his back, stopping suddenly when she realized that something was missing.

“Whoa, Lucifer, what happened to your scars?” Chloe said. She was sure that he had two, large, crescent shaped scars on his back not long ago but now it was smooth and flat, not a blemish to be found. She was surprised that she hadn’t noticed earlier since he was shirtless every night and then naked in the lake today but she had been a little distracted at the lake and he always slept with his chest to her, not his back.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I got my wings back” he said casually as if he were discussing the weather. He hadn’t used his wings at all since he got back from the desert so he had almost forgotten that he had them back. 

“No, seriously, what happened” Chloe said with concern, echoing her words from the first time she saw his scars.

“When are you going to believe me, detective? I’ve been telling you the truth the whole time and yet you refuse to accept what’s right in front of you. I have wings again. That’s the truth, that’s why I don’t have scars anymore” he snapped, mildly irritated at her stubbornness and refusal to believe him.

“I have to go pee. I’ll be right back” she said, needing to distance herself from him for a while.

“Detective, I’m sorry for snapping at you, please just come back to bed” he pleaded with her.

“I forgive you but I actually do have to pee. I’ll come back though, don’t worry” Chloe reassured him.

She left the tent and walked over to a secluded spot in the woods to relieve herself. On her way to the woods, Chloe thought about what Lucifer said to her in the tent and about what he said every other time she asked him to tell the truth. 

He always insisted that he was the devil, his story never changed. Chloe had to admit that if the devil and angels and demons were real, that would explain a lot of the weird stuff that goes on when Lucifer is around, but Chloe still wasn’t convinced. She wanted to believe him, but if he was telling the truth like he claimed, that would mean that everything that she thought she knew about the world was wrong, and she wasn’t ready to accept that yet. 

Just when Chloe reached a good spot to go to the bathroom, she heard a rustling of branches behind her and before she knew what was going on, she felt someone press a gun against the back of her head and heard a familiar voice instruct her not to move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, watch out, Chloe! Any ideas who the killer is? You'll find out next chapter but I'm curious to see if anyone has figured it out yet ;)


	4. Monday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are way too smart! A number of you figured out who the killer was so good job for picking up on my clues, you were right to be leery of Sheriff O'Leary (heh heh see what I did there). On another note, I wrote an alternate ending for this story because I wasn't completely satisfied with the first one. They both end up in pretty much the same place but how they get there is different; one version is angsty and the other is fluffy. I'll post both and let you decide which one you like better. The alternate ending picks up at the end of this chapter so I made a note of where to switch over if you want the other one.   
> Thanks for reading :)

Chloe felt the cold barrel of the gun press harder into the back of her head. 

“Don’t move” a familiar voice said. When Chloe glanced over her shoulder to see who it was, her suspicions were confirmed.

“Sheriff O’Leary? What are you doing?” Chloe questioned.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to kill you” he said calmly. “Now, why don’t we take a little walk down to the dock?” he said in a way that made it clear it wasn’t a suggestion. Chloe considered trying to fight him or run away but he had the gun pressed firmly to her head and she knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger if she tried anything. Seamus led Chloe down to the dock, clearly intent on killing her and dumping her body in the lake. Chloe knew that she had to stall and maybe she could come up with a plan if she had a little more time.

“You killed all those people, didn’t you? Why’d you do it, Seamus?”

“I did it for you. I wanted to see if you and your partner were as good of detectives as everyone says you are but I must say, I’m not impressed, Chloe. I mean, I was under your nose the entire time and you and your partner weren’t able to put it together? I even dropped clues but you were too busy making goo-goo eyes at your partner to notice.” 

Chloe thought back to every interaction they had with the sheriff, trying to think of any signs that pointed to him being the killer.

“You always arrived at the scene of the crime faster than you should’ve because you weren’t at the police station. You were close by because you had just murdered them!” Chloe concluded. “And after the second murder, your hair was wet. I thought you had just gotten out of the shower but it was wet because you were in the lake murdering that couple. You killed that poor little girl’s parents?!?” Chloe said in disgust.

“No, I did it for you, their blood is on your hands, Chloe. If you had figured it out and caught me sooner, they would still be alive” he said, using twisted logic to try and make Chloe feel guilty. “It’s a shame that I have to kill you now that you’re finally starting to figure it out but maybe the detective that investigates your murder will be a more worthy adversary” he said as he raised the gun to her head.

“Wait!” Chloe shouted, desperately trying to buy more time. “Lucifer will come looking for me and if he finds me dead, he won’t rest until he finds out who did it and when it leads to you, he’s going to make you wish that you were never born” Chloe said thinking on the fly. Seamus was clearly crazy so maybe she needed to start speaking his language. “You see, Lucifer is really the devil and he can torture you in unimaginable ways. If you kill me, he’s going to make your life a living hell and then when you die, he’ll personally torture you in hell. You’re making a big mistake” she said as convincingly as possible. For a moment, Seamus paused and lowered his gun slightly, considering what she was saying.

“You’re lying! You just don’t want to die” he said raising his gun again, deciding that she was making it up.

“No, actually, she’s telling the truth” Lucifer said in a menacing tone as he walked towards them, emerging from the darkness at the other end of the dock. He didn’t like the way that they had left things back at the tent so he went to look for Chloe. That was when he found her held at gunpoint on the dock. Chloe had never been happier to hear his voice than in that moment.

“Great, now I get to kill you both. Thanks for making this so easy” Seamus said as he began laughing like a maniac. 

“Oh, you don’t really want to do that, do you?” Lucifer said as he slowly walked up to Seamus and made eye contact, working his mojo. For a moment, the sheriff blinked and looked as if he was going to put down the gun.  
“I- I do though. I really do want to kill you. Killing people is the only thing that makes me feel alive, makes me feel good” he said in a dazed voice.

“Come, now, that can’t be all you want. Tell me what is it you desire more than anything?” Lucifer tried again as he positioned himself between Seamus and Chloe on the dock.

“What I want more than anything…” he started.

“Yes?” Lucifer said, trying to draw it out of him.

“Is to kill anyone that isn’t smart enough to catch me, starting with you two!” he shouted as he snapped out of Lucifer’s spell and aimed his gun at Chloe.

“No!” Lucifer shouted when he saw that Seamus was about to shoot. Using his supernaturally fast reflexes, Lucifer turned and tackled Chloe to the ground, cradling her head in his hand so it wouldn’t hit the dock. Instinctively, Lucifer’s wings came out and mantled over Chloe to protect her. Lucifer cried out in pain when he felt Seamus empty his clip into his wings in quick succession. Four of the bullets either grazed or glanced off Lucifer’s wings but two of them got stuck inside his wings. Chloe barely registered what was going on, it all happened so fast. 

When Seamus ran out of bullets, he continued to pull the trigger only to hear the click of the firing pin against the gun’s chamber. Realizing that he was out of ammo, he reached into his pocket to grab another cartridge but when he went to reload, it gave Chloe an opportunity to roll out from Lucifer’s wings, wrestle the gun from his hands and pistol-whip him so hard that he was knocked unconscious, his body hitting the dock with an audible thud.

With the threat neutralized, Chloe turned around to get a better look at Lucifer. She finally took in the sight of him… with giant, white, angel wings coming out of his back. It was so surreal; Chloe would’ve thought she was dreaming if she didn’t know better. She also noticed the blood pouring out from his bullet wounds, staining his pristine white wings red.

“Chloe” he rasped in pain.

“I’m here” she said kneeling down to comfort him. “What do you need?”

“I need you to pull the bullets out of my wings. I can’t put them away until the bullets are removed and other campers will come down here soon to see what those gunshots were and we probably don’t want to explain this to them” he said through gritted teeth.

“Okay, how do I get them out?” Chloe asked hesitantly, unsure of how to proceed.

“You’re gonna have to reach in with your fingers and pull them out. I think there’s one bullet stuck in each wing” he said as he extended his wings for her to get a better look. Chloe didn’t have time to process how gross or insane it was that she was about to pull bullets out of her partner’s wings so she just focused on the task at hand and got to work. She reached into the bullet hole in his left wing first and fished around for the bullet. After a minute or so, she finally felt it lodged in there and got her fingers around it. Ever so carefully, she pulled out the bullet, which was now covered in blood, and she dropped it on the edge of the dock.

“Good work, darling, just one more” he said, trying not to let his pain show.

Chloe reached into his right wing next and this time she was able to locate the bullet faster. She gently pulled it out and as soon as the projectile had left his body, he folded up his wings and they disappeared into nothingness.

“Thank you for your help, Chloe. This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out but I’m very grateful that you were able to keep your cool, so, thank you” he reiterated. 

“Can you walk?” Chloe asked as she helped him to his feet.

“I think so” he said as he leaned on her as a crutch and walked with her down the dock. When they were about half way down the dock, a group of campers approached them, still in their sleepwear, obviously woken up by the gunshots. 

“What’s going on?”

“What happened?”

“Is that the sheriff?” various voices from the crowd questioned as they whispered amongst themselves.

“Hey, LAPD, everybody go back to your tents, we have it under control” Chloe announced. Soon the crowd dissipated and Chloe and Lucifer made their way back to the tent.

“Okay, you stay here and get some rest” Chloe said as she laid him down on his air mattress. “I’m going to call Lt. Monroe to tell her what happened; leaving out the part with the wings, of course, and I’ll call someone to come and arrest Seamus before he wakes up” she said as she looked over to where the sheriff’s still unconscious body was lying on the dock.

Chloe stepped out of the tent and called Lt. Monroe first, informing her of almost everything that happened with Seamus. She changed the story so that Seamus never got off a shot, instead ending it with Lucifer’s presence distracting Seamus enough so that Chloe could knock him unconscious. The Lieutenant commended Chloe and Lucifer for their good work and told Chloe the name and phone number of a sheriff in a neighboring county that could be trusted to take Seamus into custody. Chloe dialed his number next and explained the situation. The other sheriff drove over as fast as he could and arrested Seamus, taking him out of Chloe and Lucifer’s lives for good.

During all the commotion, Chloe had forgotten that she never got to pee, which was the reason she left in the first place. Now that things had calmed down, her bladder was screaming at her, so she quickly excused herself to the woods to relieve herself before returning to the tent.

When Chloe got back, she saw that Lucifer was fast asleep, clearly exhausted from everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. She carefully crawled onto the air mattress, trying not to wake him. Chloe stared at the man sleeping next to her with so many questions about him racing through her mind. She had gotten undeniable proof that he was the devil today and yet, she still chose to sleep with him. In that moment, Chloe realized that despite all of Lucifer’s flaws and despite all the mistakes that he’s made, she would always choose to be with him, no matter what. As much as this realization scared Chloe, she wanted to explore what it meant so she vowed to tell him as much when he woke up. Satisfied with her decision, Chloe snuggled into him and quickly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

***Cut here for alternate ending***

Lucifer woke up before Chloe the next morning and carefully slipped out of her grasp. Lucifer knew that things between them were irrevocably changed yesterday and knew that he had to address everything that happened between them in the past 24 hours and he was scared of how she would react. So far, she seemed to be taking it well, considering the fact that he woke up in her arms.

Lucifer began to pack up most of their stuff into the car, getting ready to drive back to LA. When Chloe finally woke up, she stumbled out of the tent and greeted him with a warm smile.

“Hey” she said as she smoothed down her bedhead and walked towards him.

“Hey” he responded breathlessly when he caught sight of her. He hadn’t gotten to enjoy the look of Chloe in the morning these past few days, despite spending the night with her because every morning they were so rudely interrupted by someone discovering a dead body. How inconsiderate. Lucifer took in the sight of Chloe, her hair mussed from sleep, her day-old clothes slightly wrinkled from sleeping in them; most people wouldn’t characterize Chloe as ‘beautiful’ in this exact moment, but to Lucifer, she was simply radiant. 

“Uh, we should probably pack up camp” Lucifer said after a long moment of silence, too busy gaping at Chloe to think of something smooth to say.

“Good idea” Chloe said in agreement. They quickly broke camp, deflating the air mattress and taking down the tent, throwing both in the back of Chloe’s car. They got in the car and began driving back to LA, both wanting to talk about the events of the previous day but neither knowing how to broach the subject; so they drove in silence the entire car ride. When Chloe finally pulled up in front of Lux to drop Lucifer off, they finally worked up the courage to say something.

“Lucifer, I—”

“Detective—” they said at the same time, talking over each other.

“You go first” Chloe conceded, interested in hearing what he had to say.

“Detective, I want to tell you everything. I want to explain all the crazy things that happen when I’m around and I want to show you my other face and be completely honest with you. No more going backwards” he said firmly, echoing her words that had had such a profound impact on him.

“Lucifer, I want to hear everything you have to say and I want to understand this other side of you, but these past few days have been so insane, I need a little time to decompress and process everything. I’ll call you when I’m ready though, I promise” she said as he began to get out of her car.

“Alright then, detective, I shall await your call with bated breath” he said with an over-the-top gentlemanly bow as he closed her car door.

“Bye, Lucifer” she said as she smiled and shook her head, shifting her car into drive and pulling away from Lux.

“Goodbye, detective” he said softly to himself as he watched her drive off; a newfound hope burning in his heart.


	5. Friday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the fluffier ending to this fic. Thank you all for joining me on this journey and I'm so thankful to everyone that read, commented, or left kudos. I'll be posting the angsty version as a oneshot so you can read both and decide on which version you like better. Like I've said, they're pretty similar and end up in the same spot, the only difference is how they get there. Without further ado, enjoy the last chapter of "Camping with the Devil" :)

Chloe had originally planned on calling Lucifer on Wednesday. They had gotten back from the camping trip mid-morning on Monday so she figured that two and a half days would be enough time to process things and get settled back into her routine but she never got around to calling him until Friday. 

When Chloe got back to work, she was greeted with a mountain of paperwork for the three murders that she worked while they were camping, as well as two more cases that she had neglected to do the paperwork for before she left. 

The paperwork only distracted her for so long and soon she found her mind wandering and thinking about a certain handsome devil. She wasn’t ready to have their big talk yet but she desperately wanted to call him and tell him to come by the precinct to keep her company. Filling out paperwork was incredibly boring and even though she knew he would probably just distract her from getting any work done and complain about how bored he is, she still felt herself longing for his presence. 

As much as she wanted to call him during the week, she didn’t. Chloe put her nose to the grindstone and powered through her paperwork so that by the time Friday rolled around, she was completely done with her work and ready to have that heart-to-heart with Lucifer.

During the week after their camping trip, Lucifer was practically glued to his phone and every time someone would call him, he would scramble to get the phone out of his pocket and see who it was, only to be disappointed when he saw that it wasn’t Chloe. Eventually Maze picked up on this and began messing with him. 

“What, Maze?” he answered with slight irritation the first few times she called.

“Hey, I was just wondering, do we have enough vodka for the week or do we need to order more?” she asked over the phone.

“I already told you twice, we’re good on vodka” he snapped back, but with no real anger behind the words.

On Thursday night, Lucifer and Maze were hanging out at Lux getting ready to open the doors for the night when Maze slyly dialed his number, holding her phone behind her back and waiting for his reaction. When his phone started to ring, like usual, he jumped and grabbed at the pocket that was housing his device. When he looked at the caller ID, he exhaled in exasperation.

“Why the hell are you calling me Maze, I’m standing right here!”

“Whoops, must’ve butt-dialed you” Maze said with a shrug, trying to hold back her snickering.

“It’s not funny!” he said petulantly.

“Mmm, it’s a little funny” Maze decided. “You’ve been waiting for a call from your girlfriend all week like some lovesick middle schooler, why don’t you just come over to our apartment and talk to her?”

“She’s not my girlfriend” he muttered, “and it’s not that easy. She said that she needed some time and space so I’m giving it to her. She’ll call me when she’s ready.”

“She knows, doesn’t she?” Maze surmised.

“My wings came out to protect her when she was getting shot at by the serial killer” he said with a sigh.

“How did she take it?” 

“Well we haven’t really had time to talk about everything yet, she said she needed some time but I think she’s taking it pretty well so far” Lucifer said with a smile, remembering the last night they slept together.

“Well then what’s the problem? You should just tell her everything, rip off the Band-Aid and get it over with” Maze encouraged.

“If she doesn’t call me by tomorrow night, I’ll reach out” Lucifer said solemnly.

“Is that a promise?” Maze said, trying to gauge whether or not he would go back on his word.

“Yes, Mazikeen, I swear that I’ll go see the detective if she hasn’t called me by the end of the day tomorrow” he promised. Maze smiled and left the room, leaving Lucifer alone with his thoughts about the detective.

The next day Lucifer was even more on edge than the previous days. He was incredibly bored during the day since there weren’t any people at Lux yet and he didn’t have a case to distract him. He anxiously paced around Lux, waiting for a call from Chloe. He knew that she had to work until 5 so he decided that if he didn’t receive a call by 6, he would contact her first. The wait was pure torture. He felt like he was back in hell for as slow as time seemed to be moving.

Finally, at 5:45, just when Lucifer was about to give in and call her, his phone rang.

“Detective!” he answered, his voice cracking slightly with nerves.

“Hey, Lucifer, I’m done with all my work, do you want to come over now so we can talk?”

“I’m on my way!” he said quickly as he grabbed his keys and headed for the elevator.

“Okay, see you soon, bye” 

Lucifer was planning on driving his Corvette over to Chloe’s apartment but the traffic at this time of day was atrocious so when he walked outside and saw that the cars in the street near Lux were bumper to bumper, he decided that it would be faster to fly there. 

He hadn’t used his wings since getting them back, aside from protecting Chloe with them. It was a point of pride to not use the ‘gift’ that his father had forced upon him so when he decided to use them to fly over to Chloe’s place, he figured that he would be a little rusty. He was wrong though, because apparently, flying is like riding a bike, you can’t forget how no matter how long it has been since you’ve done it last.

His wings had healed up quickly from the bullet wounds once he was far enough away from the detective so now he was able to fly as if it had never even happened. Lucifer soared through the air, maneuvering through the skies at breakneck speeds, flapping and gliding to get to Chloe as fast as possible. He would never say it out loud, but Lucifer had missed the feeling of flying and he was glad to have his wings back.

Lucifer arrived at Chloe’s doorstep in mere minutes, a trip that would’ve taken much longer by car. He put away his wings and took a deep breath to compose himself before knocking on the door. He smoothed down his windblown hair and raised his fist, rapping on the door three times.

“Hey, Lucifer, I didn’t expect you so soon. Come on in” she said as she opened the door for him to enter. Lucifer complied, taking in the sight of Chloe as he did so. It had only been four days since he saw her last but it felt like an eternity. He didn’t realize how much he missed being with her until she wasn’t around.

“Thank you for calling me, I was beginning to think that I’d scared you away” Lucifer admitted while they walked over to the couch in her living room.

“No, no, of course not, it’s nothing like that. I’ve just been busy with paperwork and didn’t want to call you until I was done with all of my work” Chloe said, trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince him; but in reality, Chloe was scared. 

“Is that the truth?” Lucifer asked, making eye contact with her and calling her out. His tricks may not work on Chloe, but he knew her well enough to know when she was lying. Chloe considered protesting for a moment but decided that it would be pointless.

“No” she said quietly as she hung her head and averted her eyes from his stare. “I guess I was kind of avoiding you a little bit. I was scared of how things are going to change between the two of us now that I know…” she trailed off briefly before recovering “but anyways, I’m ready now. I’m ready to listen to everything you have to say, so go ahead and lay it on me” Chloe finished with a small chuckle.

“Okay, detective. Wow, where do I even begin?” he questioned as he nervously laughed, “I guess the beginning is a good place to start if you want to get the full story” 

Lucifer told Chloe everything about him, not sparing any details. He told her about his childhood with all his angelic brothers and sisters, about his fall from Heaven and exile to hell. He told her about the millennia he spent torturing the souls of the guilty and about how when he finally had enough, he left hell with Maze and came to Los Angeles. Lucifer explained how being around her made him vulnerable and that the reason his charms didn’t work on her is because she’s a miracle. He told her about how he had Maze cut off his wings when he came to LA and about how he got them back recently and still doesn’t know who did it or why. He explained everything about his mom coming to earth in Charlotte’s body and about all the weird things that happened when he was around. When he was finally done explaining everything to Chloe, he answered her burning questions.

 

“Can I… can I see your face?” Chloe asked gently when he had finished his explanation.

“Very well, detective. I just want you to remember that I would never cause you any harm and that you have no reason to fear me” he said gravely while Chloe mentally prepared herself.

“Okay, I’m ready” she said as she looked into his eyes.

Lucifer took a deep breath and closed his eyes and when he opened them, he revealed his devil face to Chloe. He fully expected her to run away screaming like many of the humans that had seen his true face or go into shock like Linda had but she didn’t do either.

“Is that it? I was expecting something a little scarier. Do you mind if I…” she asked as she made a motion towards his face, silently asking if she could touch him. Lucifer nodded, giving her permission and gasped slightly when her warm hands made contact with his cheeks. 

Chloe carefully caressed Lucifer’s features. His face felt leathery and rough but she wasn’t repulsed by it in the slightest. 

“Detective, you don’t have to pretend that I’m not hideous like this” Lucifer said sadly.

“Lucifer Morningstar, you are the most beautiful man I’ve ever met, regardless of the face you’re wearing” Chloe said as she tilted his chin up so that he could look her in the eye and see that she was telling the truth.

“So you don’t find me repulsive, on a chemical level?” he asked, recalling her words from their first case together.

“No, I actually love being around you and I’ve missed you these past few days” she admitted truthfully. Lucifer put away his devil face and exchanged it for the one that Chloe was used to and he gave her a big smile that stretched from ear to ear.

“I’ve missed you too” he confessed. 

“Umm, do you remember what I said while we were camping about how maybe someday we could be more than friends?” she asked shyly.

“I remember” he said softly.

“Well, I realized a couple of things after our encounter with Seamus on the dock. The first is that life is too short to deny yourself happiness” Chloe paused for a moment here before finishing her point, “and the second thing is that when I’m with you, I’m happy. So if you still want to, I’d like to give ‘being more than friends’ a try” 

“Of course I still want to!” Lucifer blurted out with a little too much excitement “I mean, yes, I would very much like that” he said slower, calming down a little.

“Good” Chloe said with a smile before leaning in to press her lips against his. At first their kiss was chaste and gentle but after a few moments, it grew more passionate as Chloe sucked on his bottom lip and began running her fingers through his hair. Lucifer moaned in pleasure and arched into her touch and at that moment, his wings popped out of his back. He turned red in embarrassment and profusely apologized saying something along the lines of ‘that’s never happened to me before’. Right when he was about to fold them away, Chloe spoke up.

“No, it’s okay. Leave them out. Can I touch them?” she asked softly.

“Sure” he said, just above a whisper. Chloe reached out her hands and began to stroke his wings, noticing that the bullet wounds had almost healed completely but he was still missing a few feathers from the unpleasant experience.

“Does it still hurt?” Chloe asked as she tenderly brushed her fingers along the edge of his left wing and kissing the spot where the bullet had entered before doing the same to the right wing.

“No, the wounds healed up pretty quickly once you were out of my immediate vicinity. They’re good as new” he admitted.

They continued making out for a while and before they knew it, it was dark outside. 

“Do you want to spend the night?” Chloe asked Lucifer hopefully.

“I would love to” Lucifer said with a smile. She smiled back at him and grabbed his hand leading him to her bedroom. 

They cuddled for a while in her bed before falling asleep in each other’s arms, excited to explore this new development in their relationship, ready for whatever the future may hold.


End file.
